Meet "The Ultimate Fighter 12" cast: Marc Stevens, Koscheck's protégé

“The Ultimate Fighter 12″ coach Josh Koscheck often incites a wide variety of emotions from those around him.

Depending on who you talk to, the top welterweight contender is either a future champion of the sport or a wretched villain.

For “TUF 12″ cast member Marc Stevens (12-5), the emotion is somewhere in between. You see, Stevens wrestled under Koscheck’s tutelage at the University at Buffalo, and when he saw his coach on the original season of “TUF,” the pupil thought he might as well give it a shot, too.

“I had been wrestling my whole life since I was about four years old,” Stevens told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I wrestled for Josh Koscheck at Buffalo. I was only there for a semester, and that was long enough to figure out college wasn’t for me. I went home and started working and partying and having a good time.

“The first season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ came out, and I saw Koscheck on there, and I thought, ‘Hell, if he can do it, I can do it.'”

So Stevens began training in earnest, driving 45 minutes each way to a gym in Syracuse, N.Y., and in 2006, he decided to turn pro. He’s since racked up a respectable 12-5 record, making him one of the most experienced competitors in this season’s cast.

“I’ve definitely paid my dues,” Stevens said. “I’ve had more fights in a month than some of these guys have had in their whole career.”

In addition to his pugilistic pursuits, Stevens opened his own gym to help pay the bills. He remains close to his family and has enlisted the help of his friends to build a solid support network as he chases his dream.

“I surround myself with a lot of really good people,” Stevens said. “My boxing coach told my little brother and me, ‘Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.’ I try to surround myself with successful people and people that are going to help me I have specific goals that I want to and that I’m going to reach.”

Of course, locked in a house for six weeks, Stevens admits it’s a little tough to turn over the reigns of those operations to his team for so long.

“I surrounded myself with really good people that I trust to run my gym,” Stevens said. “I know my parents are going to be stopping in. My mom does all the books. My dad trains there.

“Laying in bed at night, I’m laying there looking up at the ceiling wondering if one of my instructors burned the school down. I’ve been there and seen them hit little kids in the head with dodgeballs, so I can only imagine what’s going on right now. But once I get out of here, even if it’s in shambles, I can rebuild it.”

Stevens carried a four-fight official win streak into “The Ultimate Fighter” house. He felt he was on the verge of making into the UFC on his own terms, but scheduled bouts against Hermes Franca and Mike Campbell fell through at the last moment, leaving Stevens without a marquee win to impress UFC brass.

“I was trying to line fights up that would have got me in,” Stevens said. “I would have liked to go that route. I don’t like being away from my family and my school for six weeks, but we’ve gotta do what we’ve gotta do.”

So Stevens will try to make his way into the UFC by outlasting 13 other hungry lightweights. It’s a chance again to become Koscheck’s student, and this time Stevens hope to stick around a little longer than a semester.

“I don’t feel any pressure,” Stevens said. “I put the pressure on myself. I came here expecting to win.”

MMAjunkie.com interviewed all 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter 12’s” preliminary round winners, each of whom was featured in the debut episode of “TUF 12: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck.” Two new interviews will be released each day from now until the season’s second episode airs next Wednesday at 10 p.m. PT/ET on Spike TV. Full series coverage can be found on “The Ultimate Fighter 12” page.

From Our Partners

The Latest

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.